The Sutersville Volunteer Fire Department is constantly monitoring the Youghiogheny River’s water levels and ice flow because if they start to see it rise, that could mean trouble down the river.
“It’s a pretty tall order to break that ice. You have to wait for Mother Nature to do that,” Sutersville VFD Chief Mark Ghion said.
The Youghiogheny River has many twists and turns where ice blockage is a concern. One of those bends is in Sutersville.
“Where is it going to deposit itself, and if it’s going to make its way into the Monongahela, and if it doesn’t at some point, is it going to jam up and start backing the river up and start impacting the town? Ghion said.
Large pieces of ice that measure about 10 inches deep and several feet wide are dangerous because they can float down the river and slam into bridges.
That could be seen on the Youghiogheny River on Wednesday. Farther up the river, closer to Allegheny County, the river still appears to be a solid block of ice, but if the water is still moving in Sutersville.
“As long as it continues to filter its way through and the levels don’t rise, which they don’t appear to be at this point, we should be in pretty good shape,” Ghion said.
He adds that ice is unpredictable, and something that happens upstream could easily impact Sutersville.
“When you start factoring in ice flow and ice stoppages…you never know where they are going to stop, and you never know what impact that’s going to have on a community," Ghion said.
Sutersville, Connelsville, and Braddock all have river gauges with the National Weather Service and fire chiefs like Ghion will constantly monitor those to help warn other river towns ahead of potential flooding.
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